Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) on Wednesday warned that hackers have infected at least 500,000 routers and storage devices in dozens of countries with highly sophisticated malicious software, possibly in preparation for another massive cyber attack on Ukraine.Cisco said the malware could be used for espionage, to interfere with internet communications or launch destructive attacks on Ukraine, which has previously blamed Russia for massive hacks that took out parts of its energy grid and shuttered factories

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Largest number of VPNFilter infections have been recorded in Ukraine, with a surge in early May. Ukraine's Constitution Day public holiday on June 28 seen as likely target. Before of that, they have a good opportunity for two days: Europe Champions League Final

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As always - some gossip with no detail information. Like all western secret services tell us - we are under attack from Russia - you must believe us - no you won't see any futher details because it's secret but you must believe us.

Sorry I dont believe if I dont see futher details because I remember details on bombardment of Yugoslabia, wmd in Iraq and invasion on Libya.

I wonder if any of you ever been in Ukraine or you are Ukraine supporters by far distance - I was in Ukraine twice in 2006 and 2011- sorry it's failed and vey poor state and this photo from english wikipedia tell us more than 1000 words. And that's not impact of Russia- its ukraine internal problems of oligarchs and extreme corruption and ineaquality.

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Ukraine is a long way from being a failed State. Yes, it is quite poor, basically on a par with Romania and Transnistria, but then again historically the largest trading partner was Russia (perhaps 30%), and that has collapsed with the invasion of the Donbas. If you would like to measure the impact, I remind you that the anthracite coal mines, and the heavy industry including the rail locomotive shops, were located in the Donesk. Right now, the Russian mercenary armies have wrecked the place, looted the manufacturing plants, stolen the foodstuffs from the locals, robbed the peasants, stolen the cattle, even murdered civilians in order to take over their apartments.

With this kind of damage, don't be surprised that Ukraine has taken a hit economically.

Ukraine no longer has absolute poverty; yes, it is a very poor country, but the poverty is relative. Real wages are up double digits every year, and both rail and agriculture are dramatically improving. Ukraine is part of the Putin fantasy of a new Imperial Russia, and he is planning further invasions of Eastern Ukraine, probably into Karkiv. It is tough to try to rebuild a country when an aggressive neighbor is constantly threatening the borders.

Russia is in fact a collapsed State. It has massive absolute poverty, especially in the hinterlands, and collapsed infrastructure. The alcoholism and collapsed diet and medical care has led to absolute reductions in life expectancy. Notwithstanding the vast size and resources, Russia today has a lower GNP output than Italy. What makes it so dangerous is that you have the psychopath as dictator, and the society has provided no exit strategy, exactly the mirror of the situation in Syria. Except Russia has all those (unsecured) nuclear weapons. Now you have this monster sitting on the other side of a loose border, and that is a poor situation for Ukraine.

What Ukraine needs is capital investment from the West, to unlock its own resources and productive capacities. Germany refuses to do this, as Merkel has this fantasy notion of trading with Russia and it will become a docile member of the world community. That is not going to work. Buying Russian gas will pump coin into the Russian military machine, propping up its aggressor capacities. Don't delude yourself that Putin won't use that to expand the Kaliningrad Oblast and carve off another chunk of Ukraine while he's at it. Putin is like Stalin: "I like it, so I took it. What are you going to do about it?"

Edited May 24, 2018 by Jan van Eckgrammar correction: Putin will use that, to "Putin won't use that."